The US State Department Tuesday heavily criticized the right records of North Korea, Iran, Myanmar, Syria, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Eritrea and Sudan Tuesday in its annual report on worldwide human rights observance. In the introduction to the its 2007 Reports on Human Rights Practices , the Department noted that "Countries in which power was [...]

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A Belgian government commission on restitution for Holocaust victims issued its final report Tuesday, finding that Holocaust survivors, victims' families and the general Jewish community should receive $170 million to compensate for the money and goods they lost during World War II. The Belgian government and Belgian banks Tuesday agreed to pay the figure; $54 [...]

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Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo asked the Philippine Congress Tuesday to work with her administration to pass a comprehensive anti-corruption reform act to fight the corruption she said has plagued the country for decades. Arroyo noted that the country's 2008 budget dedicates more money than previous budgets to anti-corruption efforts. Reuters has more. Corruption has [...]

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South African politician Jacob Zuma launched a legal challenge Tuesday in the South African Constitutional Court seeking to have evidence excluded from his upcoming corruption trial. Zuma argued that evidence seized in 2005 raids by the Directorate of Special Investigations , also known as "The Scorpions," should be thrown out because the raids violated his [...]

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The first trial of a defendant accused of involvement in "forced disappearances" during Guatemala's 36-year civil war opened Monday. Felipe Cusanero, a former member of a civilian paramilitary unit, is alleged to have been responsible for the disappearances of at least six people from the farming village of Choatalum between 1982 and 1984. AP has [...]

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